"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

Snow & Charcoal Masks

Since moving to Tennessee, I’ve rarely seen snow. Growing up in New England, where there is snow almost every day of winter, the Tennessee weather definitely threw me off. So, when snow comes to town, I celebrate it. I make sure to be intentional about enjoying it.

Snow started falling lightly just over week ago and now it’s all melted.

When people awake from their slumber in the South, they turn on their local news and weather channel. When they see that snow is in the forecast, they run to a nearby story for bread and milk. The supposed essentials during a snow storm.

This past week, sledding became part of the snow time fun.

The air felt frigid. The stars were showing off in their majestic glory. It was peaceful. Quiet. Even though the drive may have taken longer than how long we were actually out there, it was so worth it.

Snow is fresh. Clean. When untouched, pure.

Earlier in the week, a facial party with friends ensued. Part of the facial party included charcoal masks. Which might sound really dangerous, but no worries, it sounds more dangerous than it was. After waiting several minutes, the mask began to harden and it was time for removal. Almost immediately, after the mask came off, our faces felt refreshed and cleaner than before. It was kind of disturbing to see the before and after of how unclean and then clean my face was.

The opposite of snow. There are almost no words to describe how amazingly white and clean snow is.

Snow falls in pure white. Watching it fall time almost stops. It commands us to stop and watch it fall gracefully to the dirty earth below.

The charcoal masks job is to dig deep into our pores. To try and rid our faces of imperfection.

While snow and charcoal masks have virtually nothing in common, they made me think about imperfections more clearly.

We all have imperfections. No one is perfect except for our loving Savior.

We can try to eat healthier than we ever have. We can exercise every single day. We can read all the self-help books in hopes of providing us with new ways to improve ourselves.

No matter how hard we try, we will never be perfect. No matter how much we read or exercise.

And, that should be a total relief. We don’t have to constantly be in competition with ourselves or others.

Don’t get me wrong, it is worthwhile to improve aspects of ourselves, but we don’t have to try and attain a certain level of perfection that we will actually never reach.

Snow and charcoal masks. It’s the little things that can make for a great day. While that day might not have been perfect, those little things were what made it so wonderful.

Look between all those imperfect moments. Gather the ones that will help strengthen. Keep moving forward.

Look for the snow and charcoal masks. Live intentionally among this imperfect world.